The Wishing Star Signet Ring and Night Sky Signet Ring with perfectly imperfect stars and metal finishes.
There’s something so wonderfully tactile and genuine about wobbly, imperfect forms. I get why we strive for perfection, but perfection feels a bit cold and untouchable, no? I like it better when you can sense the person behind an object. From an off-center shape or the marks of a sanding file or a scratchy finish, it just feels like it has more soul.
Modern and abstract artists have always drawn me in — they rebelled hard against the “acceptable” ways of making art and created what they *felt* instead of an exact copy. And when those artists turned their attentions over to the skies — stars, moons, and the great unknown — they tapped into the same sense of wonder we all feel looking into the night sky.
My inspiration board for the Astra Collection featuring (clockwise starting from the top left): “Sun, Moon, Star” book cover illustrated by Ivan Chermayeff; The Constellation Set, silver stars by Astraeus Clarke; “Nuit de Noël” maquette for a stained-glass window by Henri Matisse; “Pasiphaé” linocut by Henri Matisse; Silver star pin by Alexander Calder; “Untitled” lithograph by Alexander Calder.
I wanted a piece of that for myself — twinkling stars in slightly imperfect shapes that felt like they were dancing instead of fixed in place.
For the Astra Collection, I was inspired by the celestial motifs of Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, and Henri Matisse. I turned their stars into gold and diamonds so that you could have a little piece of the heavens with you all the time.
The Star Studs and Night Sky Signet Ring on very Matisse-y cut out shapes.
